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The Parliament of Idiots

The Parliament of Idiots

Tryst of the Sinators

Tayo Olafioye

The themes in this collection include home-grown, postcolonial political tyranny, the masquerades of contemporary Nigerian governance, its disregard for the welfare of the state and the subsequent impact on the individual. In the words of the author:

'its constituency of offenders and those who by tacit or explicit commission participate in this particular scandal...'

The title poem declares:

'There is no dawn yet For our city of nights There is no sun yet For our harmattan skies There is no hope yet For our wounded hearts.'

Some other themes explored in the poems are dying, disease, family reunions, nostalgia and the poet's migrations between his roots in Nigeria and adopted home in the States. Es'kia Mphahlele, Professor Emeritus of African Literature in South Africa, contributes an introduction to Olafioye's work.

ISBN 9789780390594 | 96 pages | 203 x 127 mm | 2002 | Kraft Books, Nigeria | Paperback

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About the Author

Tayo Olafioye

Tayo Olafioye is a poet, novelist and scholar, active in Nigeria and the united States. He has won prizes for his volumes of poetry, which include Sorrows of a Town Crier (1988) and Bush Girl Comes to Town (1988). His other publications include The Excellence of Silence, The Saga of Sego (1982) and two works of literary criticism: Responses to Creativity (1988) and critic as Terrorist: Views on New African Writings (1989).

His most recent collections are entitled A Carnival of Looters (2000) and The Parliament of Idiots (2002), both published by Kraft Books, Nigeria. This is the author's semi-fictional autobiography, written in the third person, following in the tradition of Camara Laye's African Child, Wole Soyinka's trilogy (Ake, Isara, Ibadan) and Tanure Ojaide's Great Boys: An African Childhood.

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